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No, they are distinct words. En älv - a river. En älva - an elf or fairy. Älvens strand - the side of the river. Älvans öron - the ears of the elf. Älvdale
by gerikson 5y ago
No, they are distinct words.
En älv - a river.
En älva - an elf or fairy.
Älvens strand - the side of the river.
Älvans öron - the ears of the elf.
Älvdalen - the valley of the river
Älvans dal - the valley of the elf.
Although they do seem to have similar Latin-Germanic roots, if one can decipher the ancient etymological book here: http://runeberg.org/svetym/1298.html http://runeberg.org/svetym/1298.html
- jeofken 5y agoI disagree that “älvdalen” could not mean valley of the älvor.
- gerikson 5y agoGrammatically, yes but practically, no. There are multiple rivers with "älv" as a suffix in Sweden, among them the biggest and most economically/historically significant. This means that any possessive formed by "älv-" automatically would refer to a river. If you'd set your Swedish language fantasy world where there's a place called "Älvdalen", readers would be confused. It would be like calling Minas Tirith Stockholm.